A Consortium Blockchain Model to Overcome Issues in the Global Patent Authentication and Management Process

Abstract

Patent authentication and management is an important activity to protect the intellectual property rights of individuals and organizations globally. As the patents are territorial and the data management related to patent applications mostly happens with local intellectual property (IP) offices, the patent authentication and management (PAM) process is significantly inefficient and time-consuming on the global scale. Moreover, the data management issues in the patent process often lead to conflicts and legal actions among competing parties. Blockchain technology is widely recognized for its potential use in creating decentralized, secure, and transparent systems with immutable records. It hence seems to be a useful technology to overcome the issues in the patent domain. This paper explores the adaptability of blockchain technology in the patent domain. It presents the design of a consortium blockchain system, which is proposed as a solution to numerous issues stemming from inefficient data management. The proposed consortium blockchain design is based on the Ethereum architecture and is equipped with smart contracts to ensure the reliability of patent data as well as the real-time update of records. This paper further discusses the potential testing and validation strategies for the proposed model.